Don't Read this Book: Time Management for Creative People - Softcover

Roos, Donald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9063694237 ISBN 13: 9789063694234

Publisher: BIS Publishers, 2016

Synopsis

When times are particularly difficult, and you are likely to slip into despair, some of the greatest pop songs can provide true comfort to make it through the pain. The problem with advice in general is that we often don't take it. The great thing about advice songs is that you can kick back and listen to someone else coach you through a tough situation while rocking out at the same time.

This wonderful book lists 250 of the best pop songs for those times that solid life advice is needed. The songs represent all popular music styles from the last fifty years, from rock to folk, and from punk to hip hop.

There are for example many times in which the three words "let it be" are words of wisdom. Although the lyrics may have originally been written in reference to interpersonal difficulties within the Beatles, the song does possess a universality that makes "Let It Be" one of the great advice pop songs of all time.

Other famous pop music advice to live by:

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free" by Sting "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Eric Idle Don't Eat the Yellow Snow (Frank Zappa) is a collection of all the famous advice songs and many surprises as well. It gives the reader the song titles, painted by hand by the designer, and a striking quote from the song lyrics as well as indices on artist and themes.

This well produced, iconic looking album of words of wisdom from pop music is the perfect gift for music lovers of all ages.

About this title

About the Author

Marcus Kraft is an art director, graphic designer, typographer and owner of Studio Marcus Kraft, based in Zurich, Switzerland. From his studio he creates custom-made design solutions for national and international clients. An emphasis is on elaborate design concepts, editorial projects and typographical quality. His work has been awarded international prizes and frequently exhibited and published. In 2012, his international bestseller ‹Don't Eat the Yellow Snow› got published by BIS Publishers. Marcus is also the founder and curator of ‹Tableau Zurich›, a public art space in Zurich.

From the Back Cover

As creative people, we have ideas. Bad, good, weird, clever, and even brilliant ideas. But most of them (even the great ideas) never see the light of day. Why? If you ask a creative person, the answer will always revolve around time. We simply need time to execute an idea, and do it well -- more time than we have.

Don't Read This Book focuses on how to make choices about everything you do in your daily creative practice and life. The book follows the 'ToDon'tList' method: When you say 'no' to one to-do, task, or project, you have more time to execute another one. The more you subtract, the more focus you get.

The book is divided into 3 parts: Life, Work, and Projects. It covers everything from defi ning your life goals, to writing a 5 sentence email, to leaving out as much as possible in a project. Whether you are a student or a professional, this book will save you time. Or, don't read this book. That will save you time too.

From the Inside Flap

As creative people, we have ideas. Bad, good, weird, clever, and even brilliant ideas. But most of them (even the great ideas) never see the light of day. Why? If you ask a creative person, the answer will always revolve around time. We simply need time to execute an idea, and do it well — more time than we have.

Don’t Read This Book focuses on how to make choices about everything you do in your daily creative practice and life. The book follows the ‘ToDon’tList’ method: When you say ‘no’ to one to-do, task, or project, you have more time to execute another one. The more you subtract, the more focus you get.

The book is divided into 3 parts: Life, Work, and Projects. It covers everything from defi ning your life goals, to writing a 5 sentence email, to leaving out as much as possible in a project. Whether you are a student or a professional, this book will save you time. Or, don’t read this book. That will save you time too.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

10 Where Do Ideas Come From?
The evolution of ideas

Everything we see around us — except for nature — was once an idea someone had. Charles and Ray Eames may have designed iconic chairs, but the idea of the chair emerged when a distant ancestor found a rock and sat down on it. Every invention flows from previous ideas. Often ideas seamlessly merge from one into the other, but some feature as milestones in the evolution of ideas, like Henry Ford’s idea to manufacture cars at a large scale. He did not invent the car itself. Nor did he invent the assembly line. But his idea to combine the two became a milestone in production history.

Everything is connected
Google would never have existed if Tim Berners-Lee had not invented the World Wide Web, which became the method for viewing the Internet (which was already in place) through personal computers. The Internet itself emerged from a network of telephone lines between various universities. Telephone lines, in turn, emerged from telegraph machines.

Innovation is serendipity,
so you don’t know what people will make.
— Tim Berners-Lee

From one idea grows another, often without us being able to anticipate it. That’s because ideas don’t function along linear lines, but come together through all sorts of twists and turns: something that philosopher Gilles Deleuze calls a Rhizome. A Rhizome is a root that grows and worms its way into everything. It is symbolic for how connotations and ideas work: You are standing at a crossing with a random number of directions. You turn into the road that feels like it suits you best. Only in retrospect can you see what the choices you’ve made were good for.

Time Management for Creative People is therefore not an hour-by-hour planning method, but a way to help you decide which route you wish to take, even if your goal is not entirely clear yet. In brief: you execute some quick tests to decide which road suits you best. Sounds vague to you? No worries, I will come back to this in a minute.

Edition details

• Publisher: BIS Publishers
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9063694237
• ISBN 13: 9789063694234
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 516